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Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines
The population extinction pulse we describe here shows, from a quantitative viewpoint, that Earth’s sixth mass extinction is more severe than perceived when looking exclusively at species extinctions. Therefore, humanity needs to address anthropogenic population extirpation and decimation immediately. That conclusion is based on analyses of the numbers and degrees of range contraction (indicative of population shrinkage and/or population extinctions according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature) using a sample of 27,600 vertebrate species, and on a more detailed analysis documenting the population extinctions between 1900 and 2015 in 177 mammal species. We find that the rate of population loss in terrestrial vertebrates is extremely high—even in “species of low concern.” In our sample, comprising nearly half of known vertebrate species, 32% (8,851/27,600) are decreasing; that is, they have decreased in population size and range. In the 177 mammals for which we have detailed data, all have lost 30% or more of their geographic ranges and more than 40% of the species have experienced severe population declines (>80% range shrinkage). Our data indicate that beyond global species extinctions Earth is experiencing a huge episode of population declines and extirpations, which will have negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization. We describe this as a “biological annihilation” to highlight the current magnitude of Earth’s ongoing sixth major extinction event.
Journal Article
Extinctions : from dinosaurs to you
\"A distinguished geologist and a popular science writer Charles Frankel turns his attention in his latest book to the mass extinctions on our planet, considering what the past can tell us about the future. Explaining Earth's past mass extinctions, Frankel suggests that, each time, a decrease in biodiversity created fragile conditions that eventuated into widespread and cataclysmic disappearances. The rise of mammals led to the rise of humans, who, over the past 200,000 years, have become their own geological force, forever affecting the bio-environment, from the massacre of megafauna in the Ice Age to the impoverishment of soils and pollution of waterways and air, to the unwitting transfer of invasive species from one part of the globe to another. After a compelling account of the latest research, Frankel ends with speculations on planetary peril and whether the widespread extinctions, climate change, and loss of biodiversity that we are currently experiencing can be slowed or even reversed. His answer inspires hope and urgency. If humans can redirect and curb some of our basic behaviors (like the obsession to kill and consume other species), we might stand a chance. Still, he eloquently explains that, even if we succeed in this, our way of life and even some of our ways of being human will be transformed forever. As extinction repeatedly shows those who survive, life is not eternal\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction
The ongoing sixth mass species extinction is the result of the destruction of component populations leading to eventual extirpation of entire species. Populations and species extinctions have severe implications for society through the degradation of ecosystem services. Here we assess the extinction crisis from a different perspective. We examine 29,400 species of terrestrial vertebrates, and determine which are on the brink of extinction because they have fewer than 1,000 individuals. There are 515 species on the brink (1.7% of the evaluated vertebrates). Around 94% of the populations of 77 mammal and bird species on the brink have been lost in the last century. Assuming all species on the brink have similar trends, more than 237,000 populations of those species have vanished since 1900. We conclude the human-caused sixth mass extinction is likely accelerating for several reasons. First, many of the species that have been driven to the brink will likely become extinct soon. Second, the distribution of those species highly coincides with hundreds of other endangered species, surviving in regions with high human impacts, suggesting ongoing regional biodiversity collapses. Third, close ecological interactions of species on the brink tend to move other species toward annihilation when they disappear—extinction breeds extinctions. Finally, human pressures on the biosphere are growing rapidly, and a recent example is the current coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, linked to wildlife trade. Our results reemphasize the extreme urgency of taking much-expanded worldwide actions to save wild species and humanity’s crucial life-support systems from this existential threat.
Journal Article
Defaunation in the Anthropocene
We live amid a global wave of anthropogenically driven biodiversity loss: species and population extirpations and, critically, declines in local species abundance. Particularly, human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change. Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance. Invertebrate patterns are equally dire: 67% of monitored populations show 45% mean abundance decline. Such animal declines will cascade onto ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Much remains unknown about this \"Anthropocene defaunation\"; these knowledge gaps hinder our capacity to predict and limit defaunation impacts. Clearly, however, defaunation is both a pervasive component of the planet's sixth mass extinction and also a major driver of global ecological change.
Journal Article
The story of Earth's climate in 25 discoveries : how scientists discovered the connections between climate and life
\"\"New tools have emerged to allow us to precisely describe the atmospheric conditions, the earth's temperature and climate, and how plants and animals interacted with these over four billion years of earth history. Not only have geoscientists conducted an enormous amount of new research on atmospheric evolution and climate change, but the importance of the intimate connection between climate and life has become much better understood and ppreciated. The idea for this book came from Don's teaching a course called \"Blue Planet\" for a college class of both geology majors and non-majors. There are several textbooks out there for this market, but they are much too detailed and technical for the average undergraduate, especially the undergraduate who is not a geology major. By teaching this course for a general audience of undergraduate non-science majors, Don has learned how to tell the incredible story of earth's climatic evolution, and the amazing interactions between climate and life that make the earth unique among planets, without going too far into the technical details of geochemistry and biochemistry and atmospheric science. This book focuses on the interaction between climate and life. It is written for the general lay reader with minimal training in geochemistry or atmospheric science. As with previous books in this informal \"\"the story of x in 25 discoveries\"\" series, this one also introduces the personal stories of the important scientists who made these discoveries, and the remarkable circumstances under which they were made. Each chapter begins with an anecdote of an important scientist, or an individual historical discovery, that led to the ideas discussed in the chapter. The book concludes with the Ice Ages, the climate of the Holocene, and finally the last 50 years of anthropogenic climate change-why we know it's real and human-caused, and what we can do about it.\"\"-- Provided by publisher.
BOOK
Estimates of the magnitudes of major marine mass extinctions in earth history
Procedures introduced here make it possible, first, to show that background (piecemeal) extinction is recorded throughout geologic stages and substages (not all extinction has occurred suddenly at the ends of such intervals); second, to separate out background extinction from mass extinction for a major crisis in earth history; and third, to correct for clustering of extinctions when using the rarefaction method to estimate the percentage of species lost in a mass extinction. Also presented here is a method for estimating the magnitude of the Signor–Lipps effect, which is the incorrect assignment of extinctions that occurred during a crisis to an interval preceding the crisis because of the incompleteness of the fossil record. Estimates for the magnitudes of mass extinctions presented here are in most cases lower than those previously published. They indicate that only ∼81% of marine species died out in the great terminal Permian crisis, whereas levels of 90–96% have frequently been quoted in the literature. Calculations of the latter numbers were incorrectly based on combined data for the Middle and Late Permian mass extinctions. About 90 orders and more than 220 families of marine animals survived the terminal Permian crisis, and they embodied an enormous amount of morphological, physiological, and ecological diversity. Life did not nearly disappear at the end of the Permian, as has often been claimed.
Journal Article
The ends of the world : volcanic apocalypses, lethal oceans, and our quest to understand Earth's past mass extinctions
Our world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In this book, Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth's past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future: many scientists now believe that the climate shifts of the twenty-first century have analogs in these five extinctions.
Book
High-precision timeline for Earth’s most severe extinction
The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe loss of marine and terrestrial biota in the last 542 My. Understanding its cause and the controls on extinction/recovery dynamics depends on an accurate and precise age model. U-Pb zircon dates for five volcanic ash beds from the Global Stratotype Section and Point for the Permian-Triassic boundary at Meishan, China, define an age model for the extinction and allow exploration of the links between global environmental perturbation, carbon cycle disruption, mass extinction, and recovery at millennial timescales. The extinction occurred between 251.941 ± 0.037 and 251.880 ± 0.031 Mya, an interval of 60 ± 48 ka. Onset of a major reorganization of the carbon cycle immediately precedes the initiation of extinction and is punctuated by a sharp (3‰), short-lived negative spike in the isotopic composition of carbonate carbon. Carbon cycle volatility persists for ∼500 ka before a return to near preextinction values. Decamillenial to millennial level resolution of the mass extinction and its aftermath will permit a refined evaluation of the relative roles of rate-dependent processes contributing to the extinction, allowing insight into postextinction ecosystem expansion, and establish an accurate time point for evaluating the plausibility of trigger and kill mechanisms.
Journal Article